Banana Pudding Cupcakes

The boy is back! I briefly mentioned it in the previous posts, but I created something especially for the boy’s return. He LOVES banana pudding. Banana pudding and cheesecake are the only desserts he really likes. So I started thinking. Banana pudding. But I don’t want plain banana pudding. Banana pudding in a cupcake form? And so it was born. The banana pudding cupcake.

I started with a banana cupcake recipe on allrecipes. Then I wanted to find a way to incorporate the pudding flavor and the nilla wafers. I decided to swap part of the flour with nilla wafer crumbs and top and fill with a combination of vanilla pudding, bananas, cream cheese frosting and nilla wafers. OMG! Phenomenal!
When it was time to give them to the boy, I took them out of the fridge to take the chill off. Once warm, he had it and said it was “amazing! It tastes just like banana pudding!” I’d call that a success.

As I just mentioned, I had these stored in the fridge. The combination of cream cheese frosting and pudding made me think that was the best place to keep them. They tasted and felt better at room temperature though, so be sure to sit them out a bit before eating.
Overall, these were great! I loved the texture, the color, and the flavor. They weren’t too crumbly or too heavy. They were a lovely light golden brown with banana flecks inside and a creamy colored frosting. And they tasted just like banana pudding (with a little touch of cream cheese).

Tips and changes for next time: only real change I would make is altering the frosting a bit. I would start with the 2 pudding packs, banana and nilla wafer crumbs, then only add as much frosting as is needed to keep the frosting on the cupcakes. This would minimize the cream cheese flavor (while it tasted good, it wasn’t the flavor I wanted to emphasize). Otherwise, I need to remember to limit the amount of batter in the mini muffin cups because, once again, some overflowed on me. I think this is partially to do with my oven because ones in the front were fine, but the back overflowed.
Banana Pudding Cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup nilla wafer crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
FROSTING:
2 vanilla pudding snack packs
½ cup nilla wafer crumbs, divided
¾ cup cream cheese frosting (will use less next time)
1 ½ ripe bananas, mashed

DIRECTIONS
In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar.

Add the eggs, vanilla, bananas and buttermilk.

Combine the flour, wafer crumbs, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to banana mixture.

Fill 18 paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes (much closer to 20 min) or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

In a small mixing bowl, combine pudding, ¼ cup wafer crumbs and bananas. Add frosting to taste.
Cut a small cone from the top of the cupcake. Frost the inside of the cone (but do not completely fill). Replace top. Frost. Sprinkle with remaining wafer crumbs for decoration.